Canon extender

minimace

minimace

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Aaron
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Been looking at the 1.4x canon extender, as I spend a lot of time outdoors and see plenty of wildlife, birds, etc. so seems like it would be a good addition to my bag, just in case I need a little bit more reach. I have been looking at either the mark II or III. has anyone used both, and was there any noticeable difference?
 
I have had the Mk11 for some time. Works fine with my 70-200 and 100-400. remember though you do lose a stop in exposure which can upset some cameras autofocus
 
newbie1 said:
I have the mk iii. points to mention are a) they only fit on certain lenses and b) you can't stack them (without extension tubes). Very handy things to have.
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Just to clarify, in case it wasn't clear: a) the range of lenses which can accommodate extenders is the same for the Mk II and Mk III extenders; b) Mk III extenders cannot be stacked but Mk II extenders can.
 
I used to have a Mkii, and now have a Mkiii. The Mkii was OK on my 70-200 f2.8 IS ii, but really not very good on my 100-400 Mkii at all. With the Mkiii the image quality is not noticeably affected at all, and the focus speed is good as well - I have no difficulty photographing birds in flight with the 100-400 & 1.4 at 560mm. I found there was a considerable difference between the Mkii and Mkiii - I simply didn't use the Mkii on my 100-400 as it just wasn't worth it, whereas the Mkiii is on it on almost a daily basis.
 
sureshot said:
Your only in the midlands which is close to me you can try mine if you want.
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Thanks for the offer, but I could never use someone else's equipment.

If I get one I would be using it with a 100-400mm mk1, and canon 70d, I assume this would work ok?
 
I have a mkii and used it on both 70-200 and 100-400 With a 5dii the only issue I had was the 100-400 At the 400 end was pushing the f8 autofocus limit but centre point worked well enough for motorsports and the 70-200 Showed no noticeable drop in image quality at all
 
minimace said:
Will autofocus not work at all?
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Yes and no.

Consumer-grade Canon DSLRs, including the 70D, can only autofocus through the viewfinder if the maximum aperture of the lens - or lens plus extender combination - is f/5.6 or better. So autofocus will work with an f/5.6 lens such as the 100-400mm, or it will work with an f/4 lens plus a 1.4x extender, but it won't work with an f/5.6 lens and an extender.

There are ways of fooling the camera into not realising that the extender is present, by taping over some of the electrical contact pins. If you do that, the camera will at least try to autofocus, but it won't be reliable. (If it was reliable, there would be no need for Canon to impose the f/5.6 limit.)

On the other hand, live view autofocus uses a different type of technology to viewfinder autofocus (contrast detection as opposed to phase detection). That isn't subject to the same restrictions, and that will work with a maximum aperture of f/8.
 
I've had the MKII in my bag for years and the only time I have used it in the last two years was on the 400mm f/2.8L MKII for a landscape shot. I generally find the image quality suffers a bit too much for my liking and that I'm often better with the extra stop and cropping.

I'm assuming the MKIII is vastly improved as it's designed with the MKII lenses in mind?
 
I find the 2xM3 good, but didn't have the M2 to compare.

I do have the problem you describe when stacking (with separator) the 2x and 1.4x that seems to be not worthwhile.
 
I had the 70D and was really disappointed when I found the 1.4 Mk3 wouldn't allow autofocus though the viewfinder when used with my 100-400 Mk2 lens (it worked in live view though). That's the reason I upgraded to the 80D when it came out.
I would suggest you get the convertor and then consider upgrading your camera body in the future.
 
I have now got a 7D MKII so will be able to autofocus and I have ordered a 1.4 extender, looking forward to giving it a try!
 
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